By Michael R. Heinlein
OSV News
The much-anticipated beatification of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen took place Sept. 24 in St. Louis, marking a historic moment for the Catholic Church in the United States. Not only is Archbishop Sheen the first television host to be formally recognized by the Church as “blessed,” but he also is the first American-born bishop to be beatified.
For many of the nation’s bishops, however, Archbishop Sheen’s beatification is about more than historical firsts. In interviews with OSV News, several bishops described a man whose influence as an evangelist and communicator flowed from a deeply rooted life of prayer and sacrifice — and whose example remains relevant to the Church’s mission today.
An auxiliary bishop of New York from 1951 to 1966, Archbishop Sheen left an indelible mark on the Church in the United States and beyond. Yet when he arrived in New York, he was no stranger to the city.
For two decades, while teaching at The Catholic University of America in Washington, he traveled regularly to NBC studios to broadcast his popular weekly radio program. As an auxiliary bishop in New York, he also directed the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (one of The Pontifical Mission Societies), connecting American Catholics to the Church’s missionary work throughout the world.
Holiness and mission
For New York Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks, who said before the historic event that he was “filled with joy” at the impending beatification, Archbishop Sheen’s ministry offers a lesson the Church still needs today: Evangelization must lead people into the mission of the Church.
“He was able to connect evangelization with mission,” Archbishop Hicks said. “We oftentimes focus only on his efforts to be on the radio or in front of television, and he did an extraordinary job at all of that. And at the same time, he used that platform to connect people to the mission of the Church, helping us to go deeper in our journey to know, love and serve Jesus.”
Archbishop Sheen’s extraordinary public ministry, Archbishop Hicks stressed, flowed from the depth of his own Catholic life.
“I love his devotion to the Eucharist, to the Word, to the rosary. I mean, it was all there — the Catholic life he embraced and he amplified and magnified.”
Archbishop Sheen was “always making sure that we were never a self-referential Church, a self-serving Church, but a Church always on mission,” Archbishop Hicks said. Through his leadership of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Archbishop Sheen devoted considerable energy to supporting young churches throughout the world.
But what inspires Archbishop Hicks most is Archbishop Sheen’s willingness to serve wherever he was needed.
“Sheen always answered with a ‘Yes, send me where you need me, Lord,’ and I will go and I will respond and I will give it my best,” he said. “And his example inspires me.”
Rockville Centre Bishop John O. Barres finds in Archbishop Sheen a similar connection between holiness and mission, calling him “our American St. Paul.” Citing St. John Paul II’s insight that every saint is both deeply contemplative and deeply missionary, Bishop Barres said Archbishop Sheen demonstrates how prayer and sacrifice bear fruit in evangelization.
“The more Catholics in the United States and everywhere are praying, sacrificing, carrying crosses on behalf of Catholic global worldwide mission in every continent,” he said prior to Archbishop Sheen’s beatification, “the better we evangelize our families, our parishes, our secular networks and secular workplaces.”
Bishop Barres, who serves as chairman of the board of The Pontifical Mission Societies — the successor organization to the one Archbishop Sheen directed — also was baptized by Archbishop Sheen. He sees the beatification as an opportunity not only to remember Archbishop Sheen’s accomplishments in supporting the missions, but “to move it forward in the 21st century.”
He points to Archbishop Sheen’s gifts as a teacher and model for bishops, particularly his conviction “that the truth claims of the Catholic Church are liberating to all human beings because they are objectively true for all human beings.”
Among a younger generation of clerics particularly inspired by Archbishop Sheen is his own successor in Rochester, Bishop John S. Bonnici. Installed earlier this year, Bishop Bonnici has spoken with priests who served under Archbishop Sheen during his brief tenure as bishop of Rochester from 1966 to 1969 and discovered another dimension of the television personality.
“The priests that I’ve spoken to speak of how his love for the poor always stood out, which is not what you necessarily would glean from his TV appearances,” Bishop Bonnici said.
Archbishop Sheen was deeply concerned about Rochester’s housing problems and the beginnings of homelessness, Bishop Bonnici noted, and he was willing to challenge powerful interests on behalf of those in need.
Bishop Bonnici also observed that “a lot of young people today are grasping and appreciating” Archbishop Sheen’s hallmark spiritual practice.
“What most young people today, I think, are seeking is a pause from the craziness of the technical world that they live in,” he said. “And I think that’s drawing them to prayer. So what better person than Sheen to not only nurture that in their lives, but also offer them guidance and insight on how to move forward?”
Michael R. Heinlein is author of “Glorifying Christ: The Life of Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I.” and a promised member of the Association of Pauline Cooperators.